2. SOCIAL GROUPS/CLASSES
• A social group is a collection of people who interact with each other and share similar characteristics and a
sense of unity. A social category is a collection of people who do not interact but who share similar
characteristics. Social class refers to a group of people with similar levels of wealth, influence, and status.
Sociologists typically use three methods to determine social class
The lower class: The lower class is typified by poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. People of this
class, few of whom have finished high school, suffer from lack of medical care, adequate housing and food,
decent clothing, safety, and vocational training.
The working class: The working class are those minimally educated people who engage in “manual labour”
with little or no prestige. Unskilled workers in the class usually are underpaid and have no opportunity for
career advancement. They are often called the working poor. Skilled workers are often called blue collar
workers. They seem to earn more money that workers in middle class.
The Middle class: The middle class are the “sandwich” class. These white collar workers have more money
than those below them on the “social ladder,” but less than those above them. They divide into two levels
according to wealth, education, and prestige. The lower middle class is often made up of less educated
people with lower incomes, such as managers, small business owners, teachers, and secretaries. The upper
middle class is often made up of highly educated business and professional people with high incomes, such
as doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, and CEOs
The upper class: This class divides into two groups: lower‐upper and upper‐upper. The lower‐upper class
includes those with “new money,” or money made from investments, business ventures, and so forth. The
upper‐upper class includes those aristocratic and “high‐society” families with “old money” who have been
rich for generations. These extremely wealthy people live off the income from their inherited riches. The
upper‐upper class is more prestigious than the lower‐upper class.
3. Within our media product I believe we have represented the main character, Joel, as
if he was in the Lower Class, because the area in which we filmed in is an abandon
building in a mysterious woodland area. Also the clothing in which Joel wore was
almost referred to as “slobby”. The clothing was not clean meaning that he could
have been homeless for some time now, which he has been. Another reason why
Joel is in lower class is because he has suffered from the loss of loved ones and also
insanity. This is the stereotypical behaviour a lot of homeless people have If we were
to watch the whole movie Joel and his family would be classed as middle class. They
are a fairly normal looking/acting family.
OUR MEDIA PRODUCT SOCIAL
CLASS
4. AGE
In many horror films there are actors/characters of all ages. The younger characters are
usually represented and the more venerable characters and are usually the ones to be evolved
around. On the other hand the older characters are usually seen as the danger or threat,
because they are the ones who are physically capable to “hurt” someone else.
Within our film opening, we have used two different characters both of different ages. Firstly
there is Bonnie who is of the age 5-6, in the film opening she is represented as the opposite to
what the younger generation is in other horror films. She challenges stereotypes in this movie
because she seems to be the more dominant character of the two, and is the one
“manipulating" Joel.
Then there is Joel who is roughly the age of 35 is represented as the weaker, more feeble
character in the film opening. But Joel in our film opening is still the threat, but he is a threat to
no one because he has already killed Bonnie. This means we have followed the trend in which
other horror films go by and use the older character as the bigger threat or the more
dangerous.
5. GENDER
In many horror film, both male and female are represented in very different ways. The
male’s are most commonly the known as the strong, bold, hero type character, the
one who always seems to save the day. This make the female gender look a lot
more submissive. The females are typically represented as the easily scared and
they can usually be the first to die. But in some horror films it would be the opposite
way around because they want to challenge typical conventions.
In our film opening we have sort of challenged the typical conventions, we have done
this by making the male the less dominant character, because he is the one who is
scared and mentally weak and vulnerable. The female (although she is dead) is the
stronger, braver character because she seems to be the fearless one in this
situation whereas the male is in a lot of distress.
6. MENTAL ABILITY
In a lot of horror films, certain characters are presented with some sort of mental disability.
These sort of characters are not found in all horrors but only specific sub-genres such as
Psychological and serial killer. They are not usually found within Ghost and science fiction
horrors, this is because they typically contain supernatural characters. Male characters are
usually presented as ‘mentally stable’. Whereas the females are usually the ones to struggle
the most, because they are stereotypically not as strong minded as males.
In our film opening the mental ability of the main character Joel is not very stable. We have
challenged another convention. Whereas the male characters are usually presented as
strong and independent but we have portrayed him to be unable to cope with anything and
isn’t able to do much for himself.
Females are usually classed as the weaker gender, but within our film opening our female
character, Bonnie, is a very strong minded and able to act for herself. She is able to help her
dad who previously murdered her.
7. CONCLUSION
In conclusion throughout our whole film opening we have challenged and developed
typical stereotypes that are found in horror films. In some aspects we have reversed
the roles. The male in our film opening was shown to be completely different to what
males are typically like in horrors and the same with our female, her role in our film
is usually played by a male but we have decided to challenge typical conventions.
